


paint the town red

by ObscureReference



Series: Rarepair Friday Fics [1]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: F/M, First Date, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-30 21:21:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6441250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObscureReference/pseuds/ObscureReference
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Hey,” Nursey said. “We should go out.”</p><p>Lardo considered it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	paint the town red

**Author's Note:**

> querulousgawks said: nursey/lardo, friends to lovers? Or maybe ‘partners in pining after guys who can’t get their shit together’ to lovers?

“Hey,” Nursey said. “We should go out.”

Lardo’s hand paused over her sketchbook, but another beat passed before she looked up. When she did, fixing Nursey with a steady stare, he shrugged.

“I figure we probably deserve it, you know?” He said, his hands tucked loosely into his pockets. The tree bark was rough against Lardo’s back, and the sun cast a glare across Nursey’s face. “Since I don’t think they’ll get the hint anytime soon.”

He didn’t say anything more than that. He stood in the grass, waiting for her response. It was an easy kind of stance, and when the breeze rolled by, it gently tugged at the corners of her papers.

Lardo considered it.

“I do deserve a night on the town,” she said finally. And there was no way in hell she’d be getting that from you-know-who anytime soon.

Nursey didn’t relax because he didn’t seem all that tense in the first place, but he did roll one of his shoulders back like he was working the tenseness out of it.

“Tonight,” he said. “7:30. We can go to one of those fancy restaurants and act like we’re stuffy aristocrats.”

The corner of Lardo’s mouth pulled upwards into a smile. “Done.”

The breeze ruffled Nursey’s hair.

“Cool,” he said.

 

 

 

“Wow,” Chowder said for the fifth time that evening. “Are you guys really gonna go on a date?”

“Yep,” Lardo said again, letting the “p” pop. She shifted her purse over her shoulder. It was the only one she had that wasn’t somehow stained with paint.

 _“Wow,”_ he repeated, eyes wide with wonder and awe. “That’s so ‘swawesome!”

The only reason Chowder knew was because he’d stopped by to grab the coat he let her borrow the other day and caught her dressing up “extra fancy,” as he put it.

Lardo’s apartment sat on the edge of campus. The only reason anybody else would see her would be if they purposely came looking for her, which she highly doubted. Part of her was glad of it.

Another part of her wished Shitty would stop by and see her, see what he was missing out on. She let herself indulge in the feeling for a moment before she shook herself out of it. This wasn’t about feeling sorry for herself. This was a night for her and Nursey and enjoying something they could have for once. This was about having a good time.

When Nursey showed up and knocked on her door like a true gentleman, Chowder _oo_ ’d and _ah_ ’d over him and his suit. Somehow they ended up taking a couple’s photo together, even though Lardo couldn’t remember how or why. The picture was on her phone. It was a little crooked, but she kept it in her saved folder anyway. They looked damn good, if she did say so herself.

“Are you ready to paint the town red?” Nursey asked once Chowder was gone and they were standing in the apartment hallway. He held out his arm and she took it.

“Oh, darling,” Lardo said dramatically. “I thought you’d never ask.” She fluttered her eyelashes for added effect.

They both snorted and made their way downstairs.

She had to give him props for picking out a nice restaurant, at least. It was nearly fancy enough that she almost felt out of place, but then she sucked it up. The name that hung over the door was something in French. Nursey assured her it was something pompous about seafood.

The food was overly expensive, but she ordered something incredibly fancy-sounding anyway. The waiter came by with a calamari appetizer that Lardo normally would have torn into with her fingers, but this time she used her fork and ate it delicately. Nursey smiled at her from around his own utensils. Lardo grinned back.

It was nice to be fancy, even if only once in a while. There was no way in Hell she could do it all the time.

But sometimes. Sometimes was nice.

She bought a glass of wine even though she preferred regular beer more than anything. She let Nursey sneak a sip when no one was watching and pretended not to notice the way his lips twitched in disgust before he schooled them back into control.

It was a nice dinner, even if the candles were a bit much. They ended up tossing paper napkin balls at the elderly woman a table over from them who looked like she was falling asleep in her soup. They paid and got out of there once the waiter started shooting them suspicious looks.

“They probably should have called an ambulance,” Lardo said as the bus began rolling to a stop. The wheels squeaked obnoxiously as they slowed. “I’m pretty sure that lady wasn’t the only one dying of boredom.”

“Tell me about it,” Nursey said. He shot her a quick glance. “But you had a good time, right?”

His voice was casual but the question was not. Lardo thought about it.

“Yeah,” she said honestly. She was surprised to find her chest felt lighter than it had in a while. “I really did.”

A slow grin spread over Nursey’s face. “Cool.”

Lardo hummed. They got off the bus.

Nursey walked her up the steps and into the elevator, both to be a “proper date,” as he called it, and because her shoes were really starting to hurt her feet and she needed something steady to hold. He waited for her to unlock her door and get in safely before he could leave.

Lardo put the key in the lock but paused before she turned it. She paused, then looked up at Nursey. He towered above her.

“Well?” She asked. “Aren’t you going to kiss me goodnight?”

It caught him off guard. Nursey sucked in a sharp breath and blinked in surprise. To his benefit, he recovered quickly.

Slowly, he cupped her face and leaned down. For a moment Lardo’s heart twisted, unsure of itself, at the idea he was going to kiss her on the mouth. But he didn’t.

Instead, he pressed his lips against her cheek, softly but surely. His stubble tickled her skin as he pulled away. The space his mouth touched stayed warm.

“I don’t put out on the first date,” Nursey said jokingly.

Lardo shrugged. “Then I guess we’ll have to go on another one.”

Her voice was more sure than she felt, and his shoulders jumped slightly, like she’d caught him off guard again. Lardo waited for a reaction, tense. After a moment, Nursey’s shoulder’s relaxed.

“Yeah,” he said softly. “I guess we will.”

She let go of the breath she had been holding and unlocked the door.

“See you later,” she said over her shoulder. She caught the tail end of his goodbye just as she shut the door. The lights were off, and she didn’t bother to immediately turn them on.

Lardo pressed her back against the door as she listened to Nursey’s footsteps fade away. She was only slightly surprised to realize she hadn’t thought about anybody else the whole evening. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

She pulled out her phone and shot off a quick text.

 _I get to pick next time,_ she texted.

Nursey’s response was swift.

 _Sure_.

An easy-going response. Relaxed. Chill.

“Next time,” Lardo repeated to herself. Then she kicked her shoes off in relief. Damn, her feet hurt. Next time she’d pick some place where she could wear sneakers. 

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment below or hmu at my tumblr (http://someobscurereference.tumblr.com/) for whatever reason. You can find my original post and tags here: http://someobscurereference.tumblr.com/post /142130566895/ querulousgawks-said-nurseylardo-friends-to (remove the spaces).
> 
> I remembered Ngozi's comment on a stream that said Lardo was a regular girl who worried about things like whether or not the guy she likes likes her back, so I tried to channel a different side of Lardo here than we usually see. I hope I succeeded.


End file.
